1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a connector, and more particularly to a flexible printed circuit board connector (also known as FPC connector).
2. The Related Art
In electronic industry, flexible printed circuit boards are widely applied in many kinds of electronic devices due to their high flexibility and thin structure. Accordingly, connectors for connecting the flexible printed circuit boards to other electrical components of the electronic devices are mass-employed.
Conventionally, an example of a flexible printed circuit board connector usually called a FPC connector for short and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,079 includes an insulating housing formed with a FPC inserting space, a plurality of terminals loaded in parallel relationship with a predetermined pitch between every two of the adjacent terminals in the insulating housing, and an upper cover disposed above the FPC inserting space of the insulating housing and capable of moving between an open position for allowing insertion of a flexible printed circuit board into the insulating housing and a closed position where the upper cover presses the flexible printed circuit board against conductive contacts of the terminals. However, in order to match the property request of some compact electronic device, the number of the terminals of the FPC connector needs to be increased correspondingly. On condition that the pitch between every two of the adjacent terminals that are mounted in the insulating housing maintains unchangeable, the length of the FPC connector will inevitably become too long to be adapted for the compact electronic device. Hence, an improved FPC connector is required to overcome the disadvantage of the conventional FPC connector.